A Well-Known Nobody
by Skiewrites
Summary: Lance was a background character, a nobody, who knew everyone's backstory in the book. But, every time he's asked for it, he only smiles, he winks, and he puts a finger to his lips, much to the surprise to the other students and staff. Until, one day, everyone wakes to see he was no longer there. (Or: How the Garrison and the world reacted to the news of three missing cadets.)
1. I - The Starting Point

Everyone in the Galaxy Garrison knew Lance McClain

It was strange, really. It wasn't as if the kid was the top, nor the bottom, of his classes or anything. He wasn't particularly good at flying, barely making the scrape for the second-year fighter class. He wasn't the best looking in the facility, but it wasn't like he was the worst. Sure, he got into trouble sometimes, more so than some of the other students, but still not enough to pick him out of the crowd for it. He didn't sneak in any treats that the students missed, he wasn't very popular or hung out with a large group of friends, nor did he fall into one of the major stereotypes that every high school seemed to have.

Lance McClain was somehow able to stay underneath everyone's radar, yet he was known by everyone.

He had, somehow, managed to worm himself into everyday life at the Garrison, worm himself into everyday life, into their conversations, their subconscious thoughts. They would only smile at his new antics, laugh at his new pick up lines, conversate in small talk with him.

But, the thing with Lance McClain was that he knew everyone and everything, from rumours to actual truth. Nobody knew how, but if you wanted to know when the next surprise quiz for Professor Smith's mechanical engineering class was, or who was dating who and who had beef, or if that rumour about a 15-year-old breaking into Iverson's office was true, then he was your guy.

Even some of the other staff members would go looking for Lance McClain when they wanted to find something out. He was on first name basics with the cleaners due to his roommate, and the security guards liked him enough to turn a blind eye when he snuck in and out of the college. The teachers knew him too, but not for good reasons. He was well known for making trouble in class, not completing the homework in the way that they wanted it to be done. He still got good enough marks, if barely, at a wonder to his classmates, if they cared enough to think about the successes that he had achieved outside of his boasting and flirting.

The point was, Lance McClain was the background character that knows the backstory to everyone in the book, who gave exposition to the reader. He was the face in the crowd that would only have to look at you and smile to know your dirtiest secrets and your deepest darkest fears. He was the plot device that people forgot about until he was relevant to the protagonist again, mainly being used a comedy relief by the author and has a huge potential for something, though nobody never realised when he reached it.

Lance McClain was, well and truly, a well-known nobody within the Galaxy Garrison.

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Until him and his entire team disappeared.

Nobody noticed, not at first anyway. Who would? Him and his mechanic were roommates, so it wasn't like one was there to report the other missing, and their third teammate wasn't the most social of people, and that was putting it lightly, meaning that nobody really knew (or cared) that he too was missing.

It wasn't until people were discussing what had happened the night before, the lockdown that caused all their lessons to be cancelled for the day, that his name was mentioned, with one person asking one of their friends to if they thought that Lance McClain knew anything about the incident last night, as he knew everyone and everything, from rumours to actual truth. They agreed with their friend, and suggested that they asked him when they next saw him, as he always made his presence known to everyone.

It took far too long for them to realise that he had yet to do so.

It started out as a single pair of friends looking for Lance and, consequently, the other two people that made up his simulation team, their curiosity about what had happened the night before mixed in with the teachers' reluctance to explain the lockdown, an hour after breakfast. People started to message people, asking if they had seen the Cuban, and before long, it turned into a campus wide search party, looking for the person who would know about what had happened for all of them to be sent to their rooms and then locked in them.

They began to question the staff on his whereabouts, first the cleaners who had the gift of seeing everyone in the college and going buy unnoticed, then the security guards who were on duty last night but had no knowledge of what had happened to cause the lockdown until the teachers were the only ones who were left to interrogate.

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An hour later, there was an emergency assembly to announce the missing students, and how anyone with any information should come forward.

Unsurprisingly, nobody did.

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Two hours later, a quick search party was lead in the surrounding area.

Unsurprisingly, nobody had found the small shack in the middle of the desert, or the caves filled with the strange lion carvings, at least, not yet.

(They did however see a strange blue lion flying over the desert, and there was now a team of people making sure that none of the videos that the students took ended up online, for security reasons of course.)

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Three hours later, Commander Iverson personally called each of the parents to tell them that their child was missing. He was confused when Gunderson's phone number didn't work, as it just kept coming up with a dead line, causing him to investigate Gunderson's files in further detail.

Unsurprisingly, there were things that didn't match up.

(Iverson did, however, have his suspicions about the misinformation that had been written in the file in his hands, making him want to just say that he rung up the parents and leave it at that.)

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The news stations found out about the incident in time for it to hit the 6 O'clock news.

 _Three teens go missing at Galaxy Garrison during an emergency lockdown._

Unsurprisingly, there was a major uproar, over the internet as well as the media.

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(Surprisingly, the students at the Galaxy Garrison had a lot to say about well-known nobody called Lance McClain, and the mysterious mask that the kid hid behind.)

* * *

 **A.N. So I've had this on my computer for a while, and I was wondering what you guys thought about it, as I'm not sure if i should continue it or not. If you guys do want more, the please tell me in the comments. I can't read your minds people.**

 **Merry Christmas!**


	2. II - 3 Teens Missing at Garrison (News)

**Three Teens Go Missing at Galaxy Garrison During Emergency Lockdown**

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 _By Jessica Thomson, Military Editor for the American Gazette_

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At about 8pm on Monday, the Galaxy Garrison base located in the middle of the Arizonian desert raised the alarm for an emergency lockdown, telling all the students that were on base at the time to go to their dorms until further notice.

This is not something that the students hadn't already heard of before. Being taught on a military base, despite the Galaxy Garrison being sold to us civilians as having 'scientific purposes' only, the students here are not only aware of the possibility that there may be one, but they have the knowledge of what to do during a situation, and have had practice in it, with drills that are reportedly happening every couple of months.

Meaning, that when the alarm was raised on Monday night, with an announcement that it was not a drill, despite what the pupils first thought, all the students filed to their rooms, their curiosity piked and their heads scratching as they overheard what was described as _'the background noise of any bad action films'_ from an anonymous source. They stated that they heard some sort of crash shadowed by distant voices yelling, then the sounds of explosions, quickly followed up by the screams of an old engine.

' _It all happened in about the space of half an hour, forty minutes tops.'_ They stated in their email to me, sent midday yesterday. _'However, we were still in lockdown for a good two, maybe even three hours afterwards, and yet, the next morning during the first meal, they not tell us anything that happened, or even give us a flimsy excuse to try and cover it! Just a cold silence and a hard glare every time the subject was pulled up.'_

This information, of course, is alarming to hear for us measly citizens, especially for those who send their children to one of these institutes, for we all know nothing good happens when the government and the military decides its in their 'better interests' to hide information from the very people they want to recruit in the future, especially after the Kerberos catastrophe, something that has cost the Galaxy Garrison millions in not only compensation to the families affected but in the loss of the research and machinery, as well as the loss of many important sponsors that were crucial in the funding for many of the programs that the Galaxy Garrison run that isn't supported by the American Government.

But, according to my source, their identity being unenclosed due to their wishes, the alarm was suspected to be the cause of three teenagers who are now listed as missing in action by the lead Commander on site, Commander Iverson.

Like the reason for the alarm, the reason as to their disappearance is still largely known by the student population, and, therefore, us civilians, however, according to the source, nobody noticed they were missing from their dorms during the entire alarm, nor during the first meal of the day, as somebody raised the alarm about halfway through the morning.

' _The morning after, the staff tried to pretend that nothing ever happened the night before, leaving us confused. Lessons had been cancelled and they didn't do morning rollcall either, which was probably the first sign that something was wrong. It wasn't until a while after breakfast that somebody noticed that they were missing, as they didn't really hang out with people other than themselves. The only reason why people started to look for them is because one of them knows anything and everything about what is currently happening in the Garrison. Everybody knows them in some weird way._

' _It wasn't until about midday that we heard an announcement that they were confirmed to be missing, but, like before, we didn't get details on it, just the confirmation of it.'*_

Why did it take half a day to confirm the missing students? What happened during the lockdown that caused them to disappear, if those two events are even related at all? What secrets are the Galaxy Garrison hiding from us?

Stay tuned, as I am going to be uncovering the many mysteries behind the Galaxy Garrison.

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 _*Footnote: the quoted text has been edited to make sure that no names are released to the public, the wishes of the missing's family._

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 _Last edited – 23/06/2066_

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 **COMMENTS (9)** :

 _(_ _Sorted_ _: Most Recent)_

IAmNotRight: _proof that the garrison is yet again hiding something from us. 'scientific purposesonly' and 'better interests' my arse_

BobSaysHi (reply to: IAmNotRight): _couldnt have said it better muself_

 _._

AnginaJones: _surely the garrison have the best interest of the people at heart?_

Lisawheigh (reply to: AnginaJones): _did you not see the mess that they made with the Kerberos mission? The news found out before the families did!1_

See More Replies (4)

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Loolu: _damn, youv'e gotta feel for those families tho, sending their kids away only to never see them again_

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(Surprisingly, it's after this point that the students attending the Galaxy Garrison located in the middle of the Arizonian desert start to take action.)


	3. III - No Showing, No Telling, Part One

The article was the first of many, many headline news about the 'Missing Garrison Cadets' incident, as it was being called now.

Of course, as soon as it came out, the staff of the institute came under heavy fire from not only the parents but government officials, politicians, and new reporters. They tried to crack down on the leak, looking for the person responsible for the information leaking out to the public, but the attempt seemed half-hearted and unsuccessful for some reason, as if they're hesitant to try and catch the person responsible, before they quickly gave up and turned their attention to things they deemed more important than a leakage in the student body, like the backlash from the press, and trying to contain that instead in fear that the incident will forever ruin their reputation.

It didn't work as well as they wanted, but, try as they might, the press couldn't seem to get a hold of any of the missing cadets' names, no matter how hard they tried.

The military were tight lipped as it was, so it wasn't like they were going to be getting anything out of them. None of the students seemed to be inclined to email any of the other reporters either, and it wasn't like they could ask the parents (who were being oddly quiet in this sort of situation), which left Jessica Thomson, the first reporter to publish an article about the 'Missing Garrison Cadets' incident, the only person outside the Galaxy Garrison to currently know the names of the missing students.

(Of course, she had a distant cousin in the Garrison at the moment, which is why she was the first to hear about it and even know who exactly was missing, not that she was going to be telling anybody that anyway.)

There was, however, a more specific reason as to why the press couldn't get a hold on any of the names.

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It all starts off with small, handwritten notes on ripped corners of paper, originating from the person who sent off the email, spreading like a plague throughout the entire student body, completely underneath the noses of the staff, leaving them confused over the changes in them.

Small scraps of paper that are passed from person to person, from class to class, from friend group to friend group, quickly being copied onto more paper and spread all round the institute, because if Lance McClain did anything for the Galaxy Garrison, it was that he brought them all together in his weird and wacky and unintentional way.

The words themselves have little meaning to those who don't know the context: _'Don't tell'._ It could mean anything for someone outside of those who knew the inner workings of the student body of the Galaxy Garrison, and for those who think that have an inkling of what's going on, they'll assume that its their way of warning others to not go to the press and tell them the names of the missing, ordering them to silence.

But, for those who do, it means more than that.

Sure, it does tell them not to go running to the media, but it's more than that. It's warning the first year not to tell anyone except the students about all the times they saw Gunderson sneak onto the roof to listen to the stars and hear what the aliens have to say. It's telling the group of girls who giggle at McCain's pick-up lines to not say anything about the way that Garrett was able to sneak in and out of the building by memorising the shifts of the guards and changing the hardwiring of the cameras to make them not spot him. It's repeating the very words that McClain would tell them when they went for him for information, whether it was to give or receive.

It's more than a warning or an order to the students of the Galaxy Garrison.

It's a promise.

A promise that the missing trio have always kept, a promise that they always gave with no hesitation to the rest of the student body

This time, it was the student's turn to keep the same promise that was given to them many a time.

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Lance McClain may be the Paladin of the Blue Lion and the very heart of Voltron, but he also the most well-known nobody that the Galaxy Garrison had ever had walked through their doors, managing to unite the entire student body with finger guns, and single wink and the promise of sealed lips.

Shame he wasn't there to see it.

* * *

 **A.N. - So, some of you may have noticed that I haven't been updating a lot of my other stories, and I'm sorry about that. College has been catching up to me, and some writer's block have been stopping me from writing both Wonderland and Brown. However, I managed to write this in under two hours, so here's a plus! See ya later!**


	4. IV - A Curtain's Calling, Part One

Act One:

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As much as he wants other people to believe, Lance McClain earned the name 'Tailor' for a much different reason than from his arguable ability to pilot a ship.

McClain was a lot different, back before he got the name. He didn't flirt a lot with girls with finger guns and exaggerated winks, bad puns and corny pickup lines. He didn't sit down at someone's table at random and start talking to them as if he had known them his entire life. People didn't even know his name back then, let alone approach him freely to give Lance some information about the Garrison's star couple to find out what their best friend had said about them behind their backs.

Back then, he was the background character that stood at the back of the stage, who didn't have a name printed in the programme. In it, he had a single line, a plot device that was used only once, and maybe had a huge potential for something, though it was never developed further, nor was it meant to.

No, he was known for other things instead, as a loner who only hung out with his roommate and no one else. As someone who spent all their time in the library, trying to keep on top of the work that might have been above his level. As a stubborn idiot who made it his goal to beat Keith Kogane in anything and everything.

It could even be said that the foundations for Lance McClain's nickname and even his reputation at the Galaxy Garrison all stemmed from Keith Kogane.

Of course, it started off simple, wanting to get a higher score in the simulator, wanting to beat him in a test in class, small things that went unnoticed for most people except for maybe McClain's roommate, but could be reasoned with. People needed goals and motivation. McClain wanted to pass, and beating one of the most gifted students the Garrison had ever seen was good motivation. Beat him, and you're practically guaranteed a pass.

However, try as he might, Kogane didn't notice at all, as the main character was much more concerned about other things rather than a minor character looking for attention.

(It was all rather sad, in hindsight.)

He tried to make it a bit more obvious, speaking loudly for anyone to hear about how he was going to beat his 'rival' in the next lesson, how he was going to score higher in the next simulation, how he was going to beat him to the cafeteria at lunch, how he was going to move up to fighter class so he could beat him some more. He didn't go back on his word, either, as he studied more and more to make sure that he was getting the scores, he hadn't beat Kogane, not yet, but he'll get there, and he raced down the corridor to get the food first, not even noticing when Keith went the other way, back to the dorms instead of getting food.

Nobody listened to a word he had to say, despite the fact that he always had an ear open for everyone else, for their problems and their secrets.

He's not too surprised. He's an unknown nobody after all, unheard at the back of the stage when all of the action was happening at the front.

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Then, everything kicks off, with the news of the of the failed Kerberos mission.

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It starts off in silence, a world in mourning of what happened. There's talk of what happened, but its in whispered breaths and in darkened corners of the stage, as if it had been forbidden to mention it while under the spot light.

Then comes the assembly, in which that the families of the dead are invited to, consisting of only a mother and her daughter, dressed similar in their black dresses and tears. That too is mainly held in silence, where the respect of the dead is held and worshipped.

But, as the mother and her daughter go to leave, they take their anguish, as well as the silence that held the Galaxy Garrison for so long, with them. It was almost like a spell over the whole building had been broken, the container of seasoning knocked and now the salt was spilt over the table.

The curtains had fallen, and now it was time to set the new scene for the next act.

The rumours were sprinkled into people's ears; the fact that it was announced as an error on the crew and not the equipment. It crystallised on their tongues; the fact that the team crashed onto the surface of the moon. It poured out of their mouths; the fact that the blame was firmly on Shirogane Takashi's shoulders.

Well, that was the rumours said anyway. It's not like people put too much faith in them anyway, as rumours also said that a young girl from Italy was the reason why the systems crashed for three days, so people tend to forget what last's week rumour in favour for the new week.

Well, most people did anyway.

(Others (just one) remembered what was said, and took a note for later.)

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The next, most notable event, would be a first-year flight class.

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It was the most notable, because, for once, Keith Kogane did not top the class like he usually did. Instead, the leader-board was topped with an arrogant kid, with a jock like personality, a failing hetero relationship and the money to pay the high bills that the Garrison payed out to educate the leaders and explorers of tomorrow.

McClain sighed from his space near the back of the class, trying to stand on his toes so he could listen to Iverson spit at his 'rival' only to hear the latest gossip from the girl next to him, angrily ranting to her friend about boyfriends and birthdays and failed expectations, and while he'd normally soak this all up like a sponge, it's not what he wanted.

He sighed again, before trying to push his way to the front, weaving in and out of the crowd that the class had gathered in, quietly muttering to one another as they, too, tried to listen in on the grilling going on right in front of them, but seem not interested in it at the same time.

Typical.

By the time that McClain managed to get to the front of the group, Iverson has decided that he was done with grilling Kogane, and pick out his next victim instead, a petite girl that went by the name of Kaitlynn Johnson who was on the verge of tears at the thought of trying to fly a simulator under the glaring eyes of the Commander.

It was weird to think that he admired the commander. Sure, he was downright horrible to his students and sometimes to even the other members of staff, as he had often heard the complaints from his teachers, but that wasn't to say that he didn't do his job. They say that he produces the best of the best, the crème of the coffee, finest that you could ever get.

And then there's Shirogane, the dirty smudge on the clean ledger.

An insult in Iverson's eyes.

(Well, eye now.)

(That, however, is too much of a different story to be added into this one, so many next time.)

Sighing, McClain stayed standing near the front of the class waiting for his turn in the simulator, which came and went without much fanfare (he crashed again, but he's getting better, he swears he's right behind Kogane now) and not before long, the class was dismissed.

Everything's fine until McClain goes to leave, one of the last to do so as someone had moved his bag for some reason, and he hears the beginning of an argument.

"If you don't change your behaviour now, not even the pity of the other staff members can save your position here at the Galaxy Garrison." Turning around, McClain stood in silence, and seemingly out of sight, as he glanced between the Commander and Kogane.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have to behave like this if someone didn't keep secrets-"

"Do not question your orders Kogane!" McClain blinked in surprise before speed walking out of the room.

He didn't need to see the outcome of that disagreement.

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Nobody saw Keith Kogane after that lesson.

Nobody knew why Iverson didn't appear after that lesson for a week and a missing eye, and everyone was too scared to ask.

Nobody could do anything against the confusion that contaminated the Garrison, seeming lost after losing a second poster boy.

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Well, Lance McClain did make for a very good nobody, after all.

x-x-x-x-x-x

 **A.N - Okay, I know I haven't uploaded lately for this story, but you guys have been so helpful! Thanks for supporting this fic, and tell me below what else you would like to see from this fic, as I'm beginning to run out of ideas! Expect a part two for this backstory soonish!**


	5. V - No Showing, No Telling, Part Tep

And, so, after the silence, came the whispers.

Of course, it was inevitable, they were teenagers with restricted access to the internet and too much free time on their hands, of course the whispers would have started. Sure, it started a lot later than it would have for any other incident, much to the shock of the teachers, who were just as tight lipped abut the whole thing as the students were. The press was yelling and raging over what had happened, even though they didn't know what _exactly_ happened, because the teachers cared a lot about their jobs and the students pretended to know less about what was going on then they actually did.

And, so, after the silence, came the whispers.

The whispers were different, however, from what they used to be before. Before, back when McClain was still around and still running the rumour mill, he would be the whispers, the one to come to the tables and to talk about what was going on and to find out what was hidden. The students had long learned that it was a hobby of his to know what was going on, to find out what others didn't and to hide it from the rest, unless there was something bigger to gain, something more important to hide.

It had taken some of the students' a while to understand the last part, about how some things needed to be hidden more than others. To begin with, he wasn't taken very seriously at all, something akin to a joke rather than something that later became the backbone to the student life in the Galaxy Garrison. But then, he protects one person by sacrificing another, and it all makes sense, it all falls into place, and everything clicks together to form a smooth and sleek system. Of course, there are people who tried to fight back, to prove themselves better, but McClain hadn't even needed to lift up a finger before they were pushed right back down to the bottom of the dog pile, and were silenced.

But these whispers weren't McClain's whispers, after all, he wasn't here to do the talking, the talking was done about him.

So, where McClain would have just sat himself at a table and started rambling strategically, the students got up and moved to the dark corners of the building, and started planning. So, where McClain would have smiled and encouraged, the students frowned and threatened. So, where McClain would have asked nicely to not tell anyone, and you wouldn't tell anyone in fear of McClain doing something with what you had just told him, the students simply smirked and dared the others to pass it on, to spread the word, to tell everyone of what was going on.

And so, after the silence, came the whispers, to drown out the truth and to spread the lies, because, if McClain had taught them anything, it was that hiding the truth was hard, extremely so, unless there were so many truths that the truths became lies and the lies became truths.

The world had been silenced for a week with nothing but two words on small scrapped bits of paper, but then it got up the next morning, and screamed.


End file.
